Nightmare Existence
by hum011606
Summary: Aerin, Daughter of the Sea, has been stuck in the same nightmare for 5 years. She has no memory beyond 5 years ago, and as she's searching for a way out, her life is suddenly turned upside-down.
1. Prologue

**Introduction: The Nightmare**

"Run, Aerin! Run!" I can just make out the shouting over the din. Just as I'm turning to see who was calling, the world exploded around me.

I sit up in a cold sweat, blood pounding in my ears. _It's not real_. I remind myself. _It's just another nightmare_. After 5 years, you'd think that maybe it would go away, at least a little. But no, every night is the same thing. Over and over and over again. The same dream. Every night. For 5 years. And you'd think that maybe I'd get used to the dream. After all, I've had the same one for 1826 days in a row. But no, each night it brings a fresh wave of horror like I've never experienced it. Do I know why I get this dream? No. I wish I did because maybe I would be able to get it to go away. Is it something that happened to me in the past? I have no idea. To be honest, I have no memory of anything past 5 years ago. The first time I got the dream...

**Hi guys! Thank you for reading! I will be posting updates every Wednesday and Saturday, unless I say otherwise. **


	2. Chapter 1: The Dawn

Why won't these nightmares go away? What am I doing wrong? Am I cursed? I get up and walk to the window, trying to clear my mind. I hope the night is still young. Hopefully I can get some more sleep in. Nope. The moon says that it is close to 2:30 in the morning. No use trying to get sleep anymore. The sun will be well-up by the time I even get close to falling asleep. Might as well start getting ready for the day now. As I get changed, I try to remember what happened that day, but everything is blank. The first thing that I can remember is waking up, with no memory. Well, not exactly no memory. I knew my name, Aerin, my age, 20 (counting the years still mattered back then), and how to read, write, and speak. I didn't know my parents' names, if I had any siblings, or where I came from. Not that that matters, it just might have helped to know.

After I finished eating breakfast, I checked to see how early it was. The moon was pretty low and I could just barely see the sun peeking up over the horizon. It was going to be a beautiful day, the perfect day for hunting. Yes, I know that I'm young for hunting, but it really helps clear my head and keep the nightmares at bay. Besides, I live alone. No one is around to stop me.

It is about 6 A.M. when I'm finally ready to leave. Yes, I know that I got up at 2:30, but I can get a little slow this early in the morning. Once I get outside, though, I wake up completely and I only really feel fully myself outdoors. I enter the woods at my usual spot and look around for any sign that something is different, but everything seems normal to me. I pick some fresh raspberries and chew them slowly as I'm waiting to find something to shoot. In about half an hour, I have shot three squirrels and a rabbit. That's not bad for that amount of time. Not bad at all. In fact, I'm about to start heading back home, because I don't need that much more meat, when I hear a branch snap behind me.

**To be continued….**


	3. Chapter 2: Ambush

**Chapter 2: Ambush**

**We continue...**

My hands fly to grab an arrow from my quiver and I quickly load my bow. I stand ready, looking for what caused the noise. I stood there for five minutes, very still, but I see nary a quiver of a branch or the puff of a breath in the cool morning air. I slowly let my muscles relax. I must still be tense from my dream last night. Yes! That must be it. I'm just imagining things because part of my brain still thinks it's in the nightmare. I put my arrow back into my quiver and start walking home. After a couple minutes of walking, another branch breaks behind me. I load my bow and look behind me. Nothing is different, but I still can't help but feel uneasy. I lower my bow but keep the arrow nocked. I slowly turn around and start walking again, but almost immediately, another branch breaks behind me. That's it! I've had it!

"Who's there?" I shout. There's no answer. "Show yourself!" I shout. Still, no answer. "I won't ask again. Come out!" Suddenly, the woods come alive with orcs. It's an ambush. And I left many of my arrows at home because I didn't think anything would happen today. I make each one count, targeting necks and eyes and heads so that each hit means a kill. I take down at least a dozen, but there are still more coming. I keep fighting until the bow is ripped from my grasp and I find myself dangling 2 feet off the ground in the arms of an orc.

They rid me of my bow and my arrows, and tie my hands together. Their wargs come out of the woods, I don't know why they didn't ride them in the ambush, and eight of them mount and ride away. I am thrown on the back of one of the two remaining, and the two orcs left take me away.

**To be continued…**


	4. Chapter 3: My First Memory

**Chapter 3: My First Memory**

**We continue…**

They are likely going to kill me. I don't want to die with no memories. I try my hardest to remember what happened that day, but I can't remember anything. The first thing I can remember is after I woke up.

I woke up one afternoon. I had no memories. I didn't know where I was. I appeared to be at the site of a battle, as there were bodies everywhere. It was horrible to see. I walked quickly away, hoping to find shelter for the night. After searching for about 3 hours, I found a small cave. Not a moment to soon, because it was starting to rain heavily. I entered the cave and lay down. I was hungry, but I had no food. I was tired after my day of walking, so I fell asleep almost immediately. The next morning, I was woken up by the sound of thunder and my nightmare. It was still pouring, and if I went outside I would get drenched in seconds. I crawled to the edge of my cave and grabbed a handful of the muddy water. It didn't look appetizing in the least, but I drank it anyway. I needed water and I couldn't afford to be picky. Since I had nothing better to do, I tried to fall back asleep to pass the time. It took hours, and was probably night already by the time I succeeded. I was woken up by the nightmare again. I drank some more water. The rain had stopped and it was almost dawn. I left my cave and was instantly hit with the pains of hunger. I knew I needed meat to keep up my strength, so I went back to the battlefield. The bodies were still there, but I did my best not to look at them. After a little bit of searching, I found a beautiful silver bow and an over-full quiver of arrows. I took them and kept on searching. I soon found two beautiful knives, which I also took, and I continued on my journey.

Wait a minute! I brought the knives with me today! The orcs didn't find them, and even though my hands are tied, I think I can still reach one without being noticed. I quietly unsheathed one knife and started carefully sawing through my ropes.

**To be continued…**

**Hey guys! It's the holidays, and as Christmas is on Wednesday, I will not be posting Chapter 4 until Saturday, December 28th. Happy holidays and see you next week!**


	5. Chapter 4: Escape?

I continue to saw through my ropes, but carefully, so that the orcs would not know what I was doing. After a couple of minutes, my hands are finally free. I grab the other knife from its sheath and take a moment prepare myself. I know that I will have to move quickly. I throw one knife at the other orc and stab the one on my warg in the head. I throw him in the way of the other warg, who is pouncing on top of me. I stab my warg in the head and slit its throat, then jump off as the other warg lands exactly where I was 1 second ago. I flop on my back on the ground and thrust my knife upwards, inflicting a long, deep cut on the warg jumping over me and splattering my face in blood. I grab my other knife from the other orc's head and turn to face the warg. It's still alive, but definitely weaker. It pounces again, but I easily dodge it and stab it in the head. It lays on the ground for a second, whimpering a little, and then it dies. The entire fight didn't even last two minutes

I retrieve my bow from underneath the body of the first orc. It is covered in a lot of blood, but isn't damaged. I turn and start walking back home. It may very well be night by the time I get back home. I haven't even gotten ten yards away when I hear the pounding of hoofbeats behind me. I turn around and draw my bow, ready to fight whomever may be coming.

**To be continued…**

**Hi guys! I apologize for the short chapter. Chapter 5 is going to be a lot longer, but it will be posted next Thursday, as Wednesday is New Years Day. See you then!**


	6. Chapter 5: Not My Day

**We continue…**

It seems that I can't catch a break today. First I get captured by orcs. Now, when I finally escape, someone else is coming, and it seems as though they are quite eager to get to me. Even as I am thinking this, horses and their riders start to appear out of the woods. It is a legion of elves led by one elf with silver hair. They are dressed for battle, and I am standing directly in their way, aiming my bow at them.

"Who are you?" the lead elf asks. I do not respond. "What are you doing here?" he says. I still do not answer. "Can you understand me?" he says slowly, "Can you hear me?". I don't respond. While how he's talking is annoying me, I will not give him the satisfaction of an answer. "Okay then," he said, "I'll let you keep your toy, but you're going to have to come with me." With that he picks me up and puts me on the front of his horse. He turns around and we start riding away.

As we ride along in the woods, I am fuming but confused. I am fuming because this is the SECOND TIME that I had been taken today, and I couldn't do anything about it because there was a legion of elves ready to kill me if I twitch the wrong way. I am confused because even though I was being taken prisoner, I was allowed to keep my weapons. I only hope that means that they will let me go. I was planning on walking by the ocean today to clear my head. I guess it's not really an ocean, it is a river, but the thought of an ocean comforts me. It always has.

When I woke up, without memories, I soon found the river. It was so bright and clear and happy, while I was a mess. I didn't want to leave it. I built my house near the river and made a point to spend some time with it every day. It relaxed me and I depended on it. Now, I don't depend on it as much, but I still love to spend time with it.

My thoughts are cut short by the view in front of me. We are arriving at a beautiful fortress tucked into the woods. It looks like it is made entirely out of trees. It is big and bright and beautiful. To think that for all this time I lived so close to this place and never realized. As we approach, I can only hope that they let me go in time for me to make it home before dark. We arrive at the stable and the person behind me dismounts. He lifts me off his horse and hands the reins to a stable worker. He then takes me by the arm and walks me inside.

**To be continued…**


	7. Chapter 6: Conference with a King

**We continue…**

I am standing in an ornate throne room in the fortress. My weapons have been taken from me, but I am not bound and I can still move freely. The room is guarded, but not heavily. In the center of the room is a throne, and on the throne a king. He is probably the father of the elf who put me on his horse, as they look quite similar. I make up my mind. I will not respond to his interrogations.

"Who are you?" The king asks me. I do not respond, but keep staring into his piercing blue eyes. "I asked you a question. Why do you not answer? Do you not know that you can be punished for such a thing as refusing to answer a king?" I do not say anything. "Hmmmm," he says, "maybe the little peasant girl is deaf. Yes, that's it. She does not respond because she does not know what I am saying. It's either that or she's just an elfling. Yes, only an elfing could be so dumb as to refuse a king." I clench my fists at my sides, angry at this king's insults. "So, it's not deaf or an elfling, because she's getting mad at me. Yes, she must just be dumb."

"Enough!" I shout. "Who are you anyway, that you get to say what or who I am. You, who kidnapped me and forced me here. I warn you, don't make me angrier than I already am, lest you feel the heat of my wrath."

"Oh, so you're threatening me now? Well that's pretty confident coming from a peasant girl who is surrounded by guards and is standing in front of a fully militaristically trained king." he says.

"Oh yeah? And that sounds pretty cocky coming from a man who sits on his butt all day and probably hasn't moved since you got up this morning." The king stands up in anger. Yes, I know that I am crossing a line, but he has no right to speak to me that way, even if he is a king.

"Why don't you come with me?" he says harshly.

"I don't think I have much of a choice, do I?" I say.

"Nope, you sure don't." he says. And with that, he roughly grabs my arm and pulls me from the room.

**To be continued…**

**Hey guys! I wanted to let you know that I will not be posting this twice a week anymore. I will only be posting on Saturdays. I will also be posting another story every Saturday starting next week. It is called "The Aftermath: A Star Wars Story" and if you want to read it chapter 1 will be up next week. Thanks for reading!**


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